After the disclosure of the assets of the members of the French government, the philosopher François Galichet proposes in Le Monde (April 4) that the income and assets of all French citizens should be made public:
“When you buy a car,” he writes, “a house or a boat, you’re already revealing your financial means to others. What harm could it do to go from this indirect, limited exposure of wealth to a complete across-the-board display? …
“This would guarantee for each citizen that in an area where justice is essential, no one can hide anything from anyone else. Without transparency there can be no justice. To defend the privacy of income and wealth is to consider them shameful matters that one must hide. Accepting transparency, by contrast, is to treat them like realities about which we can talk openly so as to determine their limits.”
